It has taken me a week to simmer down my thoughts about an editorial column that appeared in a Canadian newspaper recently. The column was written by a well known human resources consultant who it appears based her article on books by others. In it, she explains that when faced with a crisis or controversy, it is deliberate public relations strategy to do one of the following - outright denial, justification, explanation, rationalization or providing an excuse or apology.

With words like "deliberate evasion of responsibility" and "even going so far as…" (using employees in commercials) it paints an unsavoury picture of the communications profession. Personally, I have never been expected to lie or witnessed the "deliberate evasion" tactics described in the article. I would not agree that this is standard practice. The second half gets to the heart of the matter - the best reputation repair strategy is to build a good one! Effective leadership, open communication, and ethical cultures are the key. Now that’s what communications is all about!

Great leadership is the topic of the upcoming Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants - and I am the guest host of the October 1 edition. Click here to find out how to submit a post.

What can a small handful of volunteers do to raise money for crumbling infrastructure and un-sexy needs as appealing as bags of concrete? Answer: work with what you’ve got.

Cooks Creek Ukrainian Catholic Church in a rural area of Manitoba enjoys a historical legacy of volunteer support, generations of loyal parishioners and a wondrous grotto built decades ago to recreate the famous site at Lourdes, France. Located in a sparsely populated area, it is an ongoing challenge to maintain. As a religious organization, the parish is not eligible for many of the corporate and foundation giving programs.

Someone had an “outside of the box” idea - to take advantage of the unique site, rural area considered horse country, and build an event around it. The parish has held three medieval festivals with one year breaks in between. Complete with costumes, childrens’ activites, equestrian and traditional combat events, it attracts people who would not otherwise donate. The organizers are also smart about upsizing, offering graduated levels of tickets which come with added benefits. Bravo.

Early into my college education, I quickly realized that I would never fit the advertising mould. ‘Create a need and fill it’ was always good in theory, but I could never get my arms around it entirely. It seemed a little dishonest. I could accept filling a valid, visible need but often I found myself uncomfortable making the claims that seemed to stretch the truth.

This seed of discomfort snowballed into my number one pet peeve over the subsequent years. After working with several advertising agencies on projects my conclusion is that the advertising theory and tactics that work for consumer products don’t translate to the softer selling of public awareness campaigns or causes. As well, there can be a tendency to go for award-winning creative themes that often produce little results for the client, but garner accolades for the agency. How many times have you recalled a catchy slogan, or funny commercial, but can’t identify the product or company it promoted? If you are looking for outside help, don’t be dazzled by the glitz and glamour of ad speak. Your objectives and connecting with your specific audiences should drive the creative, not the images, or the provocative ideas. Anyone who focuses on look or the wow factor without getting to understand your goals is wasting your time and money. Read what Jeff Brooks at Donor Power blog has to say on this topic.

This week’s Carnival is hosted by Jeff Brooks at Donor Power who invited comments on what’s good and bad about fundraising. Check out the results.

Dear Non-Profit Organization,

I haven’t heard from you in awhile and I admit, it hurts. I find it hard to believe you aren’t answering my letters or returning my calls. I thought we got along so well and we seemed to have so much in common. I really hoped our relationship was going to be long term. I don’t know how to put this delicately, but it seems like once you got what you wanted, you weren’t interested anymore. I know you’re busy but I’ve detected a pattern. I only hear from you when you want more. I feel used.

Sincerely, Your Corporate Donor

In a past life I worked at a major financial services organization. Part of my responsibility was to promote our national program for corporate citizenship. This involved working directly with hundreds of non-profit organizations to fulfil recognition agreements and coordinate joint promotion. It amazed me how difficult it was to do this, when it seemed like it should be so much easier. I was surprised at the opportunities many were missing to let our corporate machine leverage their public and media relations efforts. Here are some sad but true examples.

Top Ten Turn Offs

1. No thank you letter sent - the ultimate sin!
2. If thank you letter is sent, it contains spelling mistakes (including our name!) and appears to be a form letter with no impact statement or relationship to our specific gift.
3. No follow up report or evaluation despite this being a condition of funding, and no other feedback sent. I can’t get enough detail from the initial agreement to confidently portray your initiative. Did you actually use the money for the project as described? Did it change? Did you meet the milestone dates? Tell me when, where, why, how so that I can easily and accurately promote your project.
4. Disregard for our approval policy and corporate identity standards. No, you can’t change the colour of the logo to fuchsia from green just because it looks better with your graphic design choice. And yes, you were supposed to ask us before you shrunk our logo down to mice type so it would fit on your bracelet. We’d rather pass on having the logo appear (with permission) than have it appear poorly.
5. Lack of notice given. What has become your emergency is not automatically our priority and despite our mutual interests we can’t always provide you with answers on your event, news release etc. without the time to process it. If you multiply your request with the hundreds of ongoing projects, as well as proposals under review, please appreciate why we ask for a specified amount of lead time.
6. Worse than lack of notice, is finding out after the fact that you announced our contribution at an event or in a media release. We ask to see your release in advance, not only to make sure it’s correct and consistent with our messages, but to make sure we have the opportunity to post on our website, flag any reasons why the date might not be optimal, provide to our own contacts and prepare for any resulting inquiries. And for those organizations who don’t have communications expertise in house, we’ll help you write it and make it better, because we want it to get picked up as much as you do.
7. The information you provide me is not what I asked for and as a result, I am not likely to use it in my website, staff newsletter, annual report, speaking remarks etc. Variations on this include repeating your initial proposal without giving me impact or outcomes I can use, or providing me with reams of information which I have to spend valuable time sifting through.
8. You send me a CD of awesome photos with no index, identification or captions that tell me what the photo is, when it was taken, who is in it, and if we have permission to use it.
9. You refer me to your communications person who doesn’t seem to be on the same page with you and I have to brief her or him on our joint initiative.
10. If we have worked together on a news release or event, you don’t send me copies of coverage or provide any feedback on it.

Relationship Rescue

If you see yourself in any of these scenarios, it’s not too late. You can still have a chance at a long and mutually rewarding relationship. At the very least, you can still be friends.